nO. 18 UCONN 80, YALE 62

• Player of the game: Shabazz Napier notched the 10th triple-double in program history with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He’s the first Husky to record two triple-doubles in his career.

• Key stats: Napier, a 6-1 guard, was UConn’s top rebounder, outdistancing his nearest teammate by eight. The Huskies were beaten on the boards 43-31 (28-16 in the second half). Yale had 21 second-chance points to the Huskies’ one. Niels Giffey scored 15 points (all in the first half), Omar Calhoun added a game-high 18 and Ryan Boatright added 14. Justin Sears led Yale with 17, followed by Javier Duren’s 15.

Meanwhile, DeAndre Daniels had no points and one rebound in 18 minutes of action.

“He’s got to change to a different person when he’s out on the court,” said coach Kevin Ollie. “Hopefully, he does that. If not, we can’t wait for anybody on this team, and the minutes are going to be where the minutes are at.”

The Huskies shot 11-for-17 on 3-pointers (including 5-for-6 by Giffey, who is now 8-for-9 from beyond the arc this season.

• Turning point: Yale had whittled a 21-point second-half deficit down to 11 (66-55) when Napier hit a baseline fallaway jumper and converted the free throw for a 3-point play. On the Huskies’ next possession, he swished a 3-pointer with 3:10 left to effectively clinch the victory.

• Rim rattlings: Why the 3 p.m. start on a Monday? Originally, the game was slated for Monday evening, with the UConn women facing Stanford Sunday night. But ESPN wanted the women’s game, so the men looked into switching to Sunday. However, Yale played Saturday in the Connecticut 6, so it wasn’t about to play on back-to-back days ... Elsewhere: UConn dropped from No. 18 to 19 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, despite its win over a good Maryland team on a neutral court on Friday ... Napier was named to the AAC’s Weekly Honor Roll. Rutgers’ Kadeem Jack was named Player of the Week after scoring 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting in a win over Florida A&M ... UConn commit Daniel Hamilton was at the Maryland game in Brooklyn, having made the cross-country flight from California ... UConn is now 44-21 all-time vs. Yale and have won 13 straight dating back to a 77-75 overtime loss in 1986.

— David Borges

HARTFORD >> Court awareness is perhaps the strongest part of Shabazz Napier’s game, but it was his awareness of a potential place in the Husky history books that stood out most on Monday afternoon.

During a media timeout with a little under four minutes left in UConn’s eventual 80-62 triumph over Yale, Napier asked director of basketball administration Kevin Freeman how close he was to a triple-double.

“One and one,” Freeman responded, meaning Napier needed one more rebound and one more assist.

He grabbed the rebound with 2:37 to play, and knew exactly what he had to do to permanently etch his name in UConn’s record book.

“Give me the assist!” he yelled at teammate Ryan Boatright the next time down the floor, looking for a pass he didn’t receive so that he could, in turn, pass to a teammate. Finally, with just under two minutes left, Napier grabbed yet another rebound (his team-high 11th, which is a whole other story onto itself), and hit freshman Terrence Samuel with a long outlet pass.

Samuel took a few dribbles and soared in for a layup. Assist? Maybe not, as the stat is at the official scorer’s discretion. But after a moment’s pause, Napier’s 10th dime popped up across from his name on the online stats.

It was just the 10th official triple-double in UConn history (Donyell Marshall had the first on record in January, 1994). Even more surprising, Napier became the first Husky player to do so twice.

“It’s a great accomplishment, and I’m just real happy about it,” Napier said afterwards.

Napier’s prior triple-double came two years earlier, in a 22-point, 12-rebound, 13-assist virtuoso performance against Coppin State. The two UConn players who had notched triple-doubles before that — Kemba Walker and Hasheem Thabeet — were both in attendance, with the NBA in lockout at the time.

“I think Hasheem could’ve had more if he had stayed,” Napier noted. “I think Kemba could’ve had more if he had stayed.”

Napier, of course, did stay for his senior season, and the Huskies are so much better for it. It’s becoming readily apparent that this team could have different standout performers from game to game, with Napier being the one constant.

“He’s doing a great job leading our team,” said head coach Kevin Ollie. “He has great basketball IQ. He has an understanding of what I want, of what his players want. I just keep telling him to give away his gift — perfect his gift and give it away.”

Ah yes, rebounding. The Huskies were beaten on the boards by Yale, 43-31. After Napier, UConn’s next highest rebounders were Lasan Kromah and Boatright (a 6-foot guard), with three apiece. Unless you want to mention “team rebounds,” of which the Huskies had five.

But Napier, as he does, helped prevent the Huskies from further embarrassment. His 14 points came on just seven shots, but as usual, he hit the biggest of the game: a baseline jumper off a head-fake for a 3-point play with 3:46 left, after Yale had snuck to within 11 (66-55).

“That’s the Kemba Walker play,” Napier said. “That’s where I learned it from.”

Napier wasn’t a one-man show on Monday. Omar Calhoun netted a game-high 18 points and Niels Giffey added 15 — all in the first half. In fact, Giffey is now averaging 14 points per first half this season, and zero in the second over the Huskies first two games.

It’s sort of the opposite of what Napier did a season ago, when he seemingly rarely shot the ball in the first 20 minutes of games but was often unstoppable over the latter 20 and, on several occasions, in overtime.

“I think he’s got that sickness,” Napier said with a laugh.

In truth, Napier sees plenty of surprising similarities between himself, the kid from Roxbury, and Giffey, the German native.

“How I was as a freshman, I came in to be that spark,” Napier noted. “He can be that ‘spark’ guy. We need that from him. He brought it in the Maryland game, and he brought it today. We just need him to score in the second half.”

Napier took care of that on Monday, at least when it counted most. And he took care of the assists and rebounds, to boot.